I finally broke down and watched this film. Though the original was problematic (namely with the casting choices and dubbing of the major stars), I was very much against this remake from the beginning. And the casting of Ansel Elgort did not help. (As my co-worker so memorably said: "That's not a good choice.")
Now, having finally seen the film, I can say with certainly that while it was very good, the original still managed to be better. Sure, Rachel Zegler is a revelation as Maria and Ariana DuBose is still great as Anita, giving Maria a look that could kill (deserving of the Oscar award in itself), my biggest surprise was how good Ansel Elgort managed to be. First, he sang the songs (though Maria was slightly lacking but it's hard to live up to Aaron Tveit's version) but the movie needed him. His Tony had an actual past, spending time in prison, truly expressing remorse for his actions of nearly beating a kid to death and having changed, growing out of the juvenile squabbles the Jets enjoy. This creates hostility between him and his best friend, Riff (Mike Faist). Still, Tony shows up at the dance where he meets Maria, still on the dance floor but their first dance and kiss are behind the bleachers and Maria makes the first move, in probably the best scene of the film, with Tony showing genuine surprise afterward.
Of course, we all know how their young romance affects those around them, bringing out the worst in everyone else, and the gangs finally drawing blood, leaving two dead bodies in their wake, Anita to identify a dead body at the morgue and Maria yell at Tony before gently forgiving him.
But there is no happy ending here. Anita is brutally assaulted, though here, the fellow women tell the men not to touch her, but they do anyway. Enter Rita Moreno with her best scene, where she tells them that they've disgraced themselves. Anita lies about Maria, and Tony changes from having a bright future, on the run from the law, to being so depressed that he begs Chino (Josh Andres Rivera) to kill him as well, which happens, in Maria's arms, leaving her to get mad (as though her brother's death hadn't done it), though her anger finally brings the two sides finally together, though instead of the haunting ending shot of Maria lingering in the spot where Tony's body was, walking away with a determined look on her face, this one pans out, making the people small, though their problems are anything but.
My problems with this film are actually Rita Moreno (whom I utterly adore) as Valentina, the owner of the drug store and Doc's widow. Despite his past actions, she has a soft spot for Tony, but I found her character (or at least how it was done) well, not believable which is just the biggest shame, as both she and the film deserved far better. Anybodys (iris menas) still exists which I was surprised to see, though her character remained underdeveloped, but here at least Tony doesn't yell at her to "be a girl" as in the original, but after finally receiving some praise from one of the Jets, a look of adoration still appears on her face, leaving more questions than answers in its wake.
That all being said, it was nice to get a bit more development and background for these characters, such as learning that Bernardo (David Alvarez) is a boxer and Chino's in night school and nothing like Bernardo, at least of the beginning, and we learn bits more about Maria, she's a cleaning lady for a department store and took care of her father for years. Anita remains strong, arguing that the apartment is just as much hers and Maria's as it is Bernardo's as they each pay one third of the rent (leaving Maria as the poor third wheel).
Thanks to the strong performances and great music, this film was worth watching and though I never thought I would say this, but I would gladly watch the film again. Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-I was ultimately pleased the song order, still having 'Geez, Officer Krupke' before the rumble but adding 'Cool' to before also, and having 'I Feel Pretty' after, leaving Maria naïve in the belief that Tony would be able to cure all the hate which exists between the two groups.
-Though I found it more authentic to have tons of dialogue in Spanish, there were no subtitles, some stuff to be unnecessarily repeated. There really should have been subtitles.
-We only learn that Maria is 18, the ages of the others remain unknown.
-We also are shown how the Jets obtain the illegal firearm.
-There is the underdeveloped plotline of the mass evictions, given the poor state of the infrastructure occurring through out the city at the time the film events were happening.
-It would have been nice to know why Valentina took pity on Tony and gave him a job and place to live.
-Also, the scene where Maria rolls around in her bed, are we supposed to assume that she went off somewhere with Tony?
-The seven Oscar nominations are richly deserved.
-Maria points out the obvious: that Tony is tall. Which he is.
-The costume colors are important. The Puerto Ricans largely wear warm colors while the whites have cooler colors. Maria notably wears a blue dress toward the end, so it would appear that she's switched sides.
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